


A Hard Discussion

by HappyCamper41



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: F/M, Fix-It of Sorts, Light Angst, Post Episode AU s03e06 Animaestro, Unhealthy Relationships
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-08
Updated: 2019-04-08
Packaged: 2020-01-06 21:41:04
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,298
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18396893
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HappyCamper41/pseuds/HappyCamper41
Summary: A discussion with her mother leaves Marinette wondering if she's really approaching her feelings for Adrien the right way, especially in light of what happened during Animaestro.





	A Hard Discussion

**Author's Note:**

> Trust me guys, I'm not hating on Marinette at all here. I just don't like the way she was portrayed in Animaestro, and this is how I personally would resolve it.

“Marinette!” Her mother’s voice called from downstairs, “Your mail’s here!”

 

And Marinette was down in a flash. The stairs might as well have not existed, for in that moment, she wasn’t a teenage girl. She was a lion, or a tiger, or some other predatory monster, pouncing on her prey, hunger in her eyes. The prey? A new fashion magazine, with a particular teen heartthrob featured in one of its articles. Marinette opened the kitchen door, and almost tackled her mother to grab it from her.

 

“Sorry Maman!” She exclaimed, taking the magazine, and turning to rush back to her room, when her mother stopped her.

 

“Slow down, dear.” Sabine laughed a little bit, “You know how clumsy you get sometimes, you don’t want to fall.”

 

“Right!” Marinette agreed, and would’ve left, but her mother’s hand was still on her shoulder.

 

“So what’s the big deal with this magazine, anyways?” Sabine inquired, “You working on a project or something.”   
  


“-Or something.” The girl said quietly, almost sighing as her mother took a seat at the table, and clearly expected her to do the same. Rather than resist, Marinette sat down, facing her mother, and they regarded each other. Sabine’s face was smiling, but there was something else there, too. A deeper, motherly concern.

 

“I take it Adrien’s in this one, too?” Sabine asked, and it was clear that she already knew the answer, “Don’t you already have quite the collection?” Marinette furiously blushed at that, and remembered the time said ‘collection’ had been broadcast on national television.

 

“This one’s different, though.” Marinette explained, “The new fall line is here-”

 

“Right, of course.” Sabine’s smile seemed to fade a little bit, “Marinette, your father and I spoke a little bit about last week, and I think that you and I need to have a talk.”

 

This caused the girl to wince. Last week, the Dupain-Cheng bakery had helped to cater a movie premier, for a new cartoon starring Ladybug and Chat Noir. Marinette had begged to be allowed to help her parents out there, after learning that Adrien would be attending the premier. Things had spun out of control from there…

 

“I told you I was sorry…” Marinette began, “I didn’t mean for Mr. Astruc to grab that macaron, and I didn’t know that he had an allergy-”

 

“Not that, dear.” Sabine cut her off again, “I got a front-row seat of how you handled seeing Adrien and that other girl… Kagami?” Sabine frowned, and Marinette didn’t make eye contact with her. “You were  _ bullying _ her, to put it mildly.” Her mother continued bluntly.

 

This immediately set off alarm bells in the young designer’s mind, and indignation swelled inside of her. What was her mother talking about? Sure, Marinette had helped Chloe with her plan, but she was just trying to help Adrien! For whatever reason, he didn’t seem to understand what Kagami was really like.

 

“I was not!” Marinette protested, and a fire seemed to appear in her mother’s eyes.

 

“You tried to cake-stain her dress, dear.” She retorted, “You saw her talking with a boy you both liked, and you immediately teamed up with Chloe to ruin her day however possible.” Sabine shook her head, clearly annoyed by the memory, “If your father and I weren’t so busy picking up the work you’d left by  _ not helping _ , I’d have stepped in.”

 

The words were crushing. Tikki had made a bit of a fuss about how Marinette had worked with Chloe as well, but her mother’s words cut much deeper. Truth be told, the raven-haired girl was struggling to formulate a response to her mother’s accusations, largely because she was basically just reading off what happened.

 

“There’s also the small matter of all the macarons you wasted.” Sabine continued, “Granted, we had more than enough, but that’s not the point.”

 

“Look, Maman.” Marinette began quietly, “I know I didn’t really think that one through. It was pretty stupid of me, and the way that Chloe was leading it should’ve made it pretty obvious that I shouldn’t be doing it.” Sabine nodded at this, quietly sipping a bit of tea she had prepared, “...But I was only trying to help Adrien! He doesn’t seem to realize what Kagami’s like, and she’s terrible for him!”

 

Marinette had expected her mother to react to her escalation, but was surprised when the older Chinese woman simply continued sipping her tea, looking thoughtfully out into space. She was clearly considering her words carefully, and when her mother did finally speak, she spoke in a calm, loving way, even though this was pretty much a lecture.

 

“But who’s choice is that?” Sabine said softly, “Because the way I see it, the  _ only _ two people qualified to decide whether Adrien and Kagami go out are Adrien and Kagami.”

 

Politely as she said them, the words still stung. Largely because Marinette didn’t really have much of an answer. She may have been trying to help Adrien, but this was his life they were talking about. A sickly feeling when through the girl as she remembered hearing (eavesdropping) Adrien complaining about his father making decisions for him, when she had tried to do basically the same thing.

 

“Kagami might be as bad as you think she is.” Sabine added a layer of firmness to her voice as she continued to sip her drink, “Dating her might be the worst possible choice Adrien could make. He might regret it for years to come.” Marinette stared off into space, absorbing her mother’s words, but not responding. 

 

“But that’s  _ his _ mistake to make.” Sabine insisted, “This is  _ his _ love life we’re talking about, and he has the right to be wrong.” 

 

“What should I do?” Marinette almost whispered in uncertainty.

 

“Now that’s  _ your _ decision.” Sabine chuckled softly, “If Kagami really is an awful girl, and you don’t think he’s seen the situation correctly, you can  _ talk _ to him about it.” Sabine’s smile grew a little bit before continuing, “Because that’s what  _ friends _ do for each other.”

 

_ Friends _ . Marinette almost snorted, but didn’t want to offend her mother. Whether she liked it or not, she was just Adrien’s friend. However, her mother’s words gave her pause, as she realized that the term wasn’t without its obligations, and responsibilities. And needless to say, Marinette hadn’t been a very good friend to Adrien at the movie premier. 

 

“But I have another theory.” Sabine put a hand on Marinette’s, clutching it, and forcing the daughter to look her in the eyes, “I don’t know Kagami. I don’t know Adrien very well either.” Sabine admitted before continuing, “But I’m left to speculate that Kagami isn’t as bad as you’re picturing. I mean no offence, dear, but I’m quite concerned that you might just be mad at her for beating you to the punch.”

 

That sounded wrong. It sounded like her mother was just taking a shot in the dark, thinking the worst of her own daughter. But unfortunately, Marinette was struggling to argue against that claim, either. Sure, Kagami had a somewhat snobbish air about her. She was certainly arrogant, and had been less than cordial with Marinette at the ice rink. But ultimately, the girl really hadn’t really done  _ anything _ to Marinette, besides getting close with Adrien. 

 

The realization that she might have miscalculated, and was just acting out of jealousy, made her feel sick. She could picture all the times that Lila and Chloe had done that very thing, and felt even more uncomfortable.

 

“Do you really think I’m just…” Marinette felt the beginnings of tears in her eyes, but was able to hold them back, “Do you really think I’m just jealous?”

 

_ I’m different from them… right? _ Marinette tried to justify her actions to herself. Obviously, she was a lot better than them. Chloe had gotten dozens of people akumatized, she didn’t do that. Lila was damn near pathological with all of her lies. Chloe and Lila  _ both _ stepped over Adrien’s personal boundaries all the time, something she never did.

 

But the reality struck her like a train strikes a parked car on the rails: she does all of those things. Her actions, albeit unintentionally, had led to numerous people getting akumatized. Lila, Mr. Astruc, Alya’s sister Nora, Master Fu’s lover, and even her own father. As for the lying… she led a double life for crying out loud! Adrien’s boundaries? She still had his  _ personal _ schedule completely memorized in her room, along with numerous pictures of him dangling on her walls.

 

It became too much for the girl, and she quietly excused herself before her mother could respond, and bolted upstairs, back to her room, locking the trapdoor behind her. She climbed into her bed, burying her face in her pillow as she began to cry.

 

“Marinette?” Tikki’s concerned voice called out to her, “What’s wrong?”

 

“N-Nothing.” Marinette wouldn’t look at her kwami, however.

 

Tikki, an immortal being, was not born yesterday. She knew a thing or two about dealing with teenage girls, because she’d seen a thing or two. So instead of directly calling it out, Tikki opted instead to just hug her chosen’s face, and release some of her positive, calming energy into the girl. Marinette clutched Tikki closely, curling up in her bed, looking directly at a picture of Adrien that stared back with equal intensity.

 

“Marinette?” Tikki whispered soothingly, “Just tell me what’s wrong…”

 

“I’m just as bad as Chloe and Lila.” Marinette sobbed, “I-I’m a liar, and a stalker, and I don’t deserve to be Ladybug.”

 

“What!?” Tikki recoiled out of shock alone, “What are you talking about? You’re nothing like Chloe or Lila.” And, after processing Marinette’s words, Tikki hastily added, “And there’s  _ nobody _ I would rather have be Ladybug.”

 

“Then maybe you need higher standards!” The girl almost shouted back, and Tikki was momentarily stunned.

 

“Is this because of what happened at the movie premiere last week?” Tikki whispered softly, and her chosen gave her a tearful nod.

 

“Not just that…” Marinette whispered, rubbing her eyes, “I complain about Lila lying, all the time, yet I probably do it even more than her. I attack Chloe for upsetting people to the point of akumatization, but I’ve got a record almost as large…” Marinette paused, accepting a tissue her crimson-colored companion had offered her, “I act like they both aren’t worthy of Adrien because they invade his personal space, but look at my wall.” She gestured to the sea of Adrien photos before pulling a pillow over her face.

 

Tikki looked around warily, worried about a potential akuma, but fortunately saw none. The kwami considered the girl’s words, and almost smiled in spite of the situation. Marinette truly did have a heart of gold, and Tikki was very proud of her for addressing the situation. However, she was blowing it WAY out of proportion. Last week had been bad, but to say that she was no better than Chloe or Lila? That wouldn’t do.

 

“Marinette…” Tikki began, choosing her words carefully, “It’s good that you acknowledge your mistakes, but trust me when I tell you that you’re nowhere  _ near _ as bad as either of those girls.”

 

“You think so?” Marinette asked, eyes widening. They were still shining with tears.

 

“I  _ know _ so.” Tikki smiled, snuggling Marinette’s face again, “Chloe gets people akumatized because she’s selfish and mean. She enjoys upsetting others, and almost  _ never _ considers the consequences of her actions.” Tikki looked her girl in the eye as she continued, “You  _ don’t  _ do that. When you’ve caused an akumatization, it’s been a mistake. Either you were trying to help your friends, or you were protecting your identity. And when you do make mistakes, you realize you’re wrong!” Tikki fluttered around excitedly, “Does Chloe ever admit she’s messed up?

 

“Well, I mean…” Marinette sniffled, “She did to Ladybug when we fought her father-”

 

“ _ Because _ Ladybug talked to her!” Tikki cut in, “You see? You don’t need superhero to tell you when you’ve been a mistake! You  _ are _ a superhero!”

 

“Only because of  _ you _ , though.” The raven-haired girl protested, “Only because of these magic earrings. Without them, I’m just a jealous teenager.”

 

“No, Marinette.” Tikki soothed, “You’re so much  _ more _ than that. You make mistakes, because you’re  _ human _ . You get jealous, you upset people, but you  _ always _ do the right thing in the end. When you get people akumatized,  _ you _ lead the mission to save them!”

 

Tikki was thrilled to see that her chosen was listening intently to her, absorbing everything she was saying, a certain  _ hope _ on her face that caused the kwami to beam even brighter. The girl was down now, but Tikki was going to make sure that she got back on her feet in no time. This was why Tikki called Marinette one of her favorite ladybugs. Not because she was good at her job, but because she was just so human.

 

“Do you really think I’m still worthy of being Ladybug?” Marinette’s asked softly for the second time this conversation, her voice just as full of emotion.

 

“Yeah.” Tikki affirmed, “I’m  _ sure _ of it.”

 

And from there, Marinette’s day got a lot better. Sabine ended up apologizing for upsetting her daughter, and Marinette quickly forgave her, acknowledging that her mother’s prying words gave her a lot to reflect on. From there, Marinette profusely apologized to both of her parents for the way she acted at the premiere, especially considering how she had to  _ convince _ them to let her go with them.

 

Needless to say, both of her parents remained the forgiving, loving people they were, and were more than willing to put the whole incident behind them as long as Marinette was willing to promise it wouldn’t happen again.

 

However, Marinette realized that there were other people she should probably talk to..

**Author's Note:**

> I was originally going to make this a sequel to my previous work "A Necessary Conversation" where Chat Noir is forced to examine how he treats Ladybug after Oblivio, but I'm approaching them in vastly different ways, so I've made them separate works.
> 
> Feel free to check "A Necessary Conversation" out though!
> 
> I'll add at least one more chapter to this work as well, where Marinette and Kagami have a heart-to-heart.


End file.
